mobilized political and religious organi- zations. The Holy Relic Action Com- mIttee, voicing the public resentment f against such state-government instltu- ). tions as the police, who they said f were "past-masters in converting truth into untruth, and vice versa," demand- }"t ed that the Central Government take / over from the state the direction of the search for the relic, that a judge from "<ß) ,. 4' outside the state try the case, and that the people be told the details of the investigation, whatever the political * consequences. When a group of politi- calleaders-Ghulam Mohiuddin Kara, Khwaja Sadruddin Mujahid, Ghulam Mohammed Shah, Ha ji Mohammed Isaq, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, and oth- ers-were arrested, the Holy Relic Action Committee demanded their im- mediate release. These demands were expressions of a revolutionary move- /" ment that was continually threatening to pass into more violent hands. Gangs of thugs, thought to he in the pay of politicians, roamed the streets, terroriz- ing Hindus. Local papers called for primitive justice, as when an editorial printed in H amdard (Urdu for "Sym- I pathizer") advocated lynchmg: "The I accursed person who has committed this reprehensible act. . . is not only an enemy of the state but an enemy of the whole country and the enemy of hu- manity. Such... an accursed person deserves to be pelted to dedth." In the meantime, inflammatory reports were finding their way into the Valley from Pakistan, where the news of the dis- appearance of the haIr had set off sym- pathy demonstrations, and where the Secretary General of the Kashmir Lih- eration Movement, stating a popular belief, hinted that India was behind the theft by calling it "the latest attack m on Muslim culture by the enemies of the people of Kashmir." There were riots in East Bengal-East Paki- II stan-in which many Hindus died; order was restored only after hundreds of rioters had been arrested. In Kashmir, an attempts of the Shamsuddin government to limit the ex- pressions of grief, to check the revo- . lution, and, by constant recourse to the Indian Army, to restore some measure : Î i)';,:::.:'H9 ::r, ,_". .:1;"",' P'TIA of order were confounded by general t . and complete disohedience. The gov- ernmen t, invoking Section 144 of the Criminal Procedures Code, banned all .., '" " ..,.., , " meetings and processions not having ,',;:',', ".., ' t"ÿ$Ür",fav. (te \or '".::Q ,'..'...ttd: ,: ,.>: . M:v ( specific permission, and it imposed cur- ROBERT BE S AND CO. · 350 fif1h ve*t,.N*Y<<,10001 ' I fews, censored press reports, tapped telephones, arrested more leaders, re- 52 . 'R ORJ'I A ! " , ' l1I . E ' j UJ N I 1f . ... , / . .. ,,/'\:,::, '", f' .,' ,.,: .'.':::." ".'" "., "."::::" '> :." ,:". .:(. .. \:':> r/ ::TAPER,!9<.,IJNDERWEJ\R., 0 \\ ,:b >.". .'" ,,",' , " / l: '", ":"':' , .\'" lEIS ;j: -(:,,:'" {f{ ,. ::." ,. ( " jf ; , : :.... òI' / """----- '1., """" -'4iIt r :"tQ, IJve: you- tÞat..'::tfj'l1Í. ,::, 'I ti :: look, 51 TM:: e_çb:: , ,.i '"T'" ",.,:'It'.:Ô,,:,'. ,.ä""',:"""R , , $"9, ,; ,: J,:-'.:ØO"R:f1,M .... ..... . 0.._.. ... .... ... . .. . . ' . . stricted the freedom of movement of others, and threatened with dismissal anyone In government service who took part in the agitatIon, but all these measures proved ineffective. It was no secret that for many years most Kash- miris had been discontented with their accession to India, with the de-facto division of their state, and with the government imposed upon them, and that if they were given a choice they would prefer either integration with Pakistan or independence. And now a sense of religious outrage, combined with the smoldering political grievances, threatened to turn the Valley yet again into a battleground between India and PakIstan. Shamsuddin made desperate pleas to the people. He would, if it were any use, sacrifice his eyes for the recovery of the hair, he assured them, and he declared: It is the belief of a Muslim that as long as he does not entertain more love for God's Prophet (may peace be on him) than he has for his children and for his property, his faith is not complete. I am a 1 uslim by religion, and I have the same belief. Thus, the removal of the holy hair of the Holy Prophet (may peace be on him) has injured our spirit- ual sentiments I t has actually injured the heart of humanity. I share in equal measure the grief that is being expressed by the common people. . . . I can offer my very life for recovery of the holy hair. If my transitory life be of any use to\vard this end, I \vil1 not hesitate to offer it. It is indeed a miracle of the holy hair itself that today Hindus, Muslims, and SIkhs are all mourning alike. The Hindus and Buddhists to the east of the Valley, in Ladakh (part of Kashmir), did indeed offer prayers of sympathy, and the Hindus and Sikhs who formed the majority in Jammu, and who actually wanted com- plete and final integration with India, nevertheless now made common cause with the Kashmiri Muslims, prevent- ing new outbreaks of religious rioting. And so the life of Shamsuddin's gov- ernment was prolonged. Non-Muslims marched in procession with their Islam- ic brethren, red Hindu flags embroid- ered with "Om" alongside green Mus- lim flags embroidered with couplets from the Koran. Such a dJsplay of unity had not been seen in Kashmir since its division, and the unity persisted even when two oronze statues were stolen from a Hindu temple in Jammu- supposedly in a Muslim act of retalia- tion. Nevertheless, the Shamsuddin government could not have survived without the intervention of the Central